David Vedder
David Vedder (1790 - 11 February 1854) was a Scottish poet, sailor, and tide-surveyor. Life Vedder was born in the parish of Deerness, near Kirkwall, Orkney, son of a small proprietor. Receiving little or no education, and being ‘pretty well grown before he could read or write’ (Grant Wilson, Poet and Poetry of Scotland), he at length read extensively, and seems ultimately to have and seems ultimately to have mastered French, Italian, and German.Bayne, 197. Early left an orphan, he went to sea, and when 22 became captain of a Greenland whaler, which he commanded for several years. In 1815 he was appointed first officer of an armed cruiser, and in 1820 became a tide-surveyor, officiating successively at Montrose, Kirkcaldy, Dundee, and Leith. Vedder wrote and translated verse from a comparatively early age. He published his first poem at age 21, and in 1828 he published The Covenanters' Communion, and other poems. In 1832 appeared Orcadian Sketches, a prose and verse miscellany, largely representing the results of direct observation and disciplined experience. In 1830 De Quincey and others supported Vedder's Edinburgh Literary Gazette, in opposition to the Edinburgh Literary Journal of Henry Glassford Bell.Bayne, 198. In 1832 he published a very popular memoir of Walter Scott, freely compiled from Jeffrey's Essays and other sources. He edited in 1839 Poetical Remains of Robert Fraser, a Kirkcaldy poet, and in 1842 issued a collected edition of his own Poems: Legendary, lyrical, and descriptive, illustrated by Walter Geikie, the distinguished delineator of Scottish character. His lyric, "The Temple of Nature," was a favourite with Dr. Chalmers, who frequently recited it to his students (Gilfillan, Prefatory Memoir to Poems, Lyrics, and Sketches, p. xxii). Vedder collaborated with Frederick Schenck in The Pictorial Gift-Book of Lays and Lithography, 1842. In 1852 he published, in one volume quarto, his Story of Reynard the Fox; new version, illustrated by Gustav Canton of Munich. With lithographs by Schenck and MacFarlane, this was considered on its appearance "the best edition of this famous story yet presented in England" (London Literary Gazette, 1852, p. 789). Vedder contributed letterpress to Geikie's Etchings, and he is represented in the supplementary volume of George Thomson's Scottish Melodies, in Blackie's Book of Scottish Song (1844), and Whistle-Binkie (1853). He wrote for the Edinburgh Literary Journal, Constable's Edinburgh Magazine, the Christian Herald, Tait's Magazine, and Chambers's Journal. Retiring on a pension in 1852, he died at Newington, Edinburgh, on 11 Feb. 1854, and was buried in the Grange cemetery, Edinburgh. Vedder was survived by his widow, by a son in the royal navy, and by two daughters, one of whom was married to Frederick Schenck, a well-known Edinburgh lithographer. Writing With lyric movement usually correct and fluent, Vedder commands at once a certain frank humour, and a pathos unfeigned and manly. The title-piece of The Covenanters' Communion, and other poems, the title-piece comprising 57 vigorous and opinionative Spenserian stanzas, and several of the lyrics were well-turned and vivacious. Orcadian Sketches, a prose and verse miscellany, largely represented the results of direct observation and disciplined experience. His scripture transcripts are marked by grace and reserve. George Gilfillan wrote of him: "As a poet and prose writer his powers were of no ordinary kind. He added to strong unrestrained sense much fancy and humour. If not a ‘maker’ in the full extent of that name, he had unquestionably a true natural vein. Dr. Chalmers used actually to electrify his class-room by reading those lines of Vedder’s entitled 'All Nature worships there;' and many parts of his Covenater’s Communion and his Orcadin Sketches display similar power and truth of genius."Significant Scots: David Vedder, Electric Scotland. Web, Dec. 26, 2016. Recognition George Gilfillan edited, with memoir, a posthumous undated volume of Vedder's Poems, Lyrics, and Sketches. Publications Poetry *''The Covenanters' Communion, and other poems''. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood, 1828. *''Orcadian Sketches: Legendary and lyrical pieces''. Edinburgh: W. Tait, 1832. *''Poems: Legendary, lyrical and descriptive; now first collected'' (illustrated by Walter Geikie). Edinburgh, Edinburgh Printing & Publishing, 1842. *''The Pictorial Giftbook; or, Lays and lithography'' (illustrated by Frederick Schenck). Edinburgh: J. Menzies ; London: Wm. S. Orrm 1848. *''Poems, Lyrics, and Sketches'' (edited by George Gilfillan). Kirkwall, Orkney, UK: W. Peace & Son, 1855. Short fiction *''The Story of Reynard the Fox'' (illustrated by Gustav Canton). London: W.S. Orr, et al, 1852; London: D. Bogue / Edinburgh: J. Menzies, 1854. Non-fiction *''Memoir of Sir Walter Scott, Bart.; with critical notices of his writings''. Dundee, UK: Archibald Allardice, 1832. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:David Vedder, Search results = au:WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 26, 2016. See also *List of British poets References * . Wikisource, Web, Dec. 26, 2016. Notes External links ;Poems *"Stanzas, paraphrased from Petrarch" *"The Covenanter's Communion" *David Vedder at Black Cat Poetry {"The Aurora Borealis") *David Vedder at PoemHunter (9 poems) ;About *David Vedder at Electric Scotland *David Vedder (1790-1854) at English Poetry, 1579-1830 * Vedder, David Category:1790 births Category:1854 deaths Category:19th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Scottish poets Category:People from Orkney